In aromatherapy, the quality of essential oils is crucial to their health benefits. Essential to this is the purity of the oil. Below you will find tips on buying essential oils as well as their proper use.
Aromatherapy: quality of the oil is crucial
For those who only care about a particular scent in the air of a room, a bottle of inexpensive (and almost always produced in a laboratory) oil from the supermarket is probably enough. In aromatherapy, however, quality – meaning 100 percent purity – plays a crucial role. To achieve that, the oil should be derived entirely from a parent plant. Ideally, essential oils are pure, unadulterated, and preferably harvested from wild or cultivated plants, unfertilized with natural organic growing conditions so that no chemicals can bleed through during distillation. Through distillation, pressing or extraction, the valuable aromatic substances are extracted from the parent plant, sometimes from the root, sometimes from the bark, flower or leaf. All processes are complex and expensive, which explains the higher price. The synthetically produced duplicates have by no means the effectiveness of the originals – at most the scent.
Quality criteria for aroma oils
At present, unfortunately, there are no reliable quality criteria for essential oils. You have a certain security for the authenticity of his oil, if the following information is recognizable:
- The batch number, the Latin and the German botanical name should be mentioned on the bottle.
- Country of origin and information about controlled organic cultivation or wild cultivation must not be missing.
- Synthetic, ie artificial additives, should not be added in any case, which can be risky especially for allergy sufferers.
- Essential for the quality of an essential oil is the purity. To offer cheap, oil is often diluted. Greatest security and thus guarantee for purity and naturalness guarantee essential brand oils from the pharmacy or from designated specialist dealers, who also have the appropriate expertise regarding the application.
- The designations fragrance oil, perfume oil, aroma oil and fragrance concentrate are indications of a synthetic production in the laboratory. For medical use, you should make sure that the oil has the designation “essential oil”.
Sniff the oils beforehand so you can determine if you like the fragrant essence.
Essential oils for beginners
To get started with room fragrancing, citrus scents are recommended, as most people find them pleasant with their fresh, fruity scent. In the beginning, it is best to use only a single scent, avoid scent mixtures of too many essences. Always observe your well-being when doing so.
Fragrance lamp or aroma device?
For the distribution of fragrant and healing essences in the room, there are many options. The best known is certainly the use of a fragrance lamp: through a tea light, a water-oil mixture is heated here. The essential oil rises with the water vapor and spreads throughout the room. Usually 3 to 5 drops of the oil and some water are enough. Also, you should limit the time of application to 10 to 20 minutes at the most. Instead, you can also use a special aroma device. Such a device is much easier to use and, above all, safer, because the essential oils are not heated, but quickly and effectively distributed in the room by an adjustable air flow. Even before you consciously notice this, the scent has filled the whole room.
Application and effect of essential oils
Applied are essential oils by means of aroma devices or fragrance lamps mainly for complaints in the area of the respiratory organs or for an effect in the mental-emotional area. Natural essential oils are versatile because they:
- Increase the well-being, act for example sleep-inducing, stimulating, mood-lifting.
- Act in respiratory disease such as colds, colds and coughs.
- Are suitable as a pure scent application, which improves the atmosphere of the room
- Act against annoying mosquitoes and insects, especially in the summer months.
Examples:
- Orange: has a refreshing and invigorating effect, therefore also so effective against odors; conveys energy and joie de vivre.
- Lavender: keeps mosquitoes and other pests away; helps with stress and tension; boosts self-confidence; has a balancing, soothing and mood-lifting effect.
In addition to fragrance lamps and aromatherapy devices, baths, massages, wraps and inhalations with essential oils are also effective and pleasant forms of self-therapy. They strengthen the immune system and improve overall well-being.
Practical and fast: inhale essential oils.
A quick effect can be achieved by inhaling: Drip about six to eight drops of an essence or mixture on a cloth and inhale deeply three times. It is equally possible to put three to four drops in hot water, cover your head with a towel over the bowl of water and breathe deeply several times. However, this method is not suitable for asthmatics.
Relaxing baths with essential oils.
For essential oil baths, six to eight drops of the essence or mixture are enough. But be careful: Water that is too hot will cause the essence to evaporate faster than desired. Those who suffer from dry skin can dilute the essence with two teaspoons of a carrier oil. The duration of the bath should be 10 to 20 minutes.
Other areas of application for essential oils
In addition, there are other ways to use essential oils:
- Three drops of oil on a glass of water are good for mouthwashes and gargling.
- For the treatment of many skin problems and as an alternative to massage, rubs with essences diluted in carrier substance are recommended.
- Compresses with essential oils relieve pain, sprains and swelling.
- Massage is used as a means of transport, but also to enhance the healing effect.
Essential oils invigorate all the senses, and with regular use, they can significantly increase the zest for life.
5 tips on how to use essential oils.
We have compiled some important tips on the use of essential oils for you:
- Essential oils are concentrates and should never be used undiluted, otherwise they can irritate eyes and mucous membranes.
- Oils should be stored away from light, cool and inaccessible to children.
- Used in the fragrance lamp, the water-oil mixture should never be hot. The essential oil should evaporate slowly and in no case. If after about 15 minutes the feeling occurs, the fragrance intensity would decrease, this is usually just a deception.
- Bathing in essential oils is one of the most beautiful applications of aromatherapy. Since oils can not be mixed with water, a skin-friendly cream bath can be prepared yourself: mix 5 to 10 drops of essential oil in 2 to 3 tablespoons of cream and add to the bath water. The natural emulsifier cream serves at the same time as a refatting and prevents the skin from drying out.
- For massage, high-quality fatty oils can be enriched with essential oils. As carrier oils are particularly suitable unrefined, cold-pressed oils such as almond oil, hazelnut oil, jojoba oil, wheat germ oil, St. John’s wort oil or aloe oil.
